That Was Then
by WalkingTheDog
Summary: Late-night diners in her mother's restaurant catapult a young Olivia Pope into a sexual awakening and journey of self-discovery that she did not even realize that she needed. Themes include: mythology, gemology, sex-work, and non-conformity. OliviaFitz. AU.
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Scandal

* * *

 _ **Neither a long time nor a short time ago…..**_

Fitz, immediately upon seeing the young woman for the first time, likened her to Alexandrite. It was not a hobby of the one Fitzgerald Grant to liken humans to gemstones; however, the vision before him begged him of it.

It was late evening on a relatively quiet Brooklyn night when he entered into the small and dimly-lit hole-in-the-wall restaurant. With nothing more notable than a collection of plants cluttering the glass front of the restaurant and ceiling to floor beads hanging just inside the door, Fitz was certain that he would have walked right past it, had not his companion been purposely seeking it out. Following his soon-to-be dinner partner through the front door – which held a wooden sign clearly indicating that the restaurant had just closed for the night – and then through the curtain of beads, his eyes were introduced to the woman whom he would come to refer to as the one "Alexandrite".

Pausing just inside the entrance to the restaurant, Fitzgerald Grant experienced a mild sensory overload. The air was warm and heavy inside the restaurant, and it was ripe with the smell of herbs and spices. There were small wooden tables scattered all across the small dining area, complete with wooden chairs and a small candle atop every table. In the rear of the restaurant, just before the entrance to the kitchen, was a wall of wines and other types of alcohol. It was amidst the sea of tables that the Alexandrite woman stood sweeping the floor, and it was from the kitchen that a middle-aged woman appeared, walking swiftly towards them.

"I'm sorry, but the kitchen has just closed," the woman announced after stopping before them and smiling politely.

A prolonged silence then lingered in the air, as Fitz felt the young woman beside him – his dinner companion – shift in contemplation.

"I'll pay you double the amount of our bill," she calmly lobbied back.

"Pardon?" The middle-aged woman – who was, presumably, the proprietor of the restaurant – raised a manicured eyebrow.

"Triple," his dinner companion continued.

Silence once again overtook the already quiet dining area, and some distance behind the proprietor, the Alexandrite woman paused from her work and looked over at the restaurant's two late night visitors. It was the first time that she had actually looked at them since they had entered the restaurant. Fitz knew this because he, on the other hand, had been paying her every bit of mind since they had entered the restaurant. Now that she was giving him and his companion a little more attention, Fitz was able to detect the exact moment when she noticed that he had been studying her. His attention had been on her the entire time, and now the young woman was aware of it. She looked at him warily, and only then did he finally turn away.

"Aura," he looked at his companion and warned, his tone suggesting that she should back down.

" _Please,_ " she continued stubbornly. "Name your price, if you will."

The proprietor studied Aura's urgent face for a few seconds before her expression softened and she extended out her hand.

"I'm Maya," the middle-aged woman introduced with a smile, "and I'm the owner of this restaurant. If I heard correctly, your name is Aura?"

"Yes," Aura responded, shaking the outstretched hand. She gestured beside her. "And this is Fitz."

"Welcome," Maya turned and said to him, shaking his hand as well. "You two may sit wherever you'd like."

As they went to seat themselves, Fitz noticed Maya walk over to the broom-wielding young woman for a short exchange. The young woman's eyes briefly flitted over to meet his during the conversation, and so she once again caught him studying her. Taken in by her large, walnut-shaped, molasses-colored eyes, Fitz felt his stomach flutter. Even under the dim candlelight, he was confident in the fact that this Alexandrite woman was the most soul-stirringly beautiful woman of whom he had ever made the acquaintance.

What he first noticed about her were her wine colored braids. The narrow, carefully woven ropes hung in a thick curtain around her face and were cut bluntly so that the ends just brushed the tops of her shoulders. In a bold complement to her hair, she was wearing a deep, emerald green turtleneck, tucked into a wool, plaid mini-skirt that was the same green as her shirt. It was the red and green complement that evoked thoughts of an Alexandrite gemstone; however, it was _more_ than the way the candlelight played off of her hickory skin that made her so alluring. Though, Fitz could not quite determine what _"it"_ was as of yet.

"She is breathtaking, is she not?" Aura mused knowingly from across the table, breaking him from his reverie.

Fitz returned her smirk with a look of indifference.

His dinner partner shook her head and chuckled to herself, which caused Fitz's look of indifference to change into a more hardened expression.

"What is so amusing to you?" he clipped.

"Nothing need mentioning," Aura waved off, still chuckling. "Nothing need mentioning…"

* * *

After having granted service to her late night patrons, Maya informed her daughter that she would be responsible for getting them whatever they needed, while Maya herself disappeared into the kitchen in order to prepare to cook what she hoped would be her last meals of the night.

"And do let them know that while it was generous of them to offer to pay more, they need only pay what is owed," were Maya's departing words to her daughter.

The atmosphere in the small dining area appeared to Olivia as if it took on some extra weight, now that she was left alone with the restaurant's new guests. Not yet approaching the couple, Olivia walked to the hosting stand at the very front of the restaurant in order to grab menus and the table settings. She also used the opportunity in order to further appraise the man who was so adeptly appraising her just moments ago, along with his whirlwind of a companion. There was something about the couple that sent a prickle down Olivia's spine, and made her bones feel unsettled, and she was determined to figure out what that "something" was.

The woman - who had introduced herself as Aura - was complex in her beauty, as Olivia observed. The cashew-colored hue of her skin was one of the sole indicators of what Olivia was sure was an African ancestry. If not her complexion, then it was definitely the large mane of tight, silken coils that billowed out and down to just past her shoulders. Whereas her skin was relatively dark, her hair – a perfect, golden blond – and her eyes – hazel and feline in shape – were both light. Her slender yet curvy frame was clothed in a form-fitting, knee-length dress the color of a desert rose. She was not simply beautiful. She was other-worldly, and it was in fact this celestial air about the woman that only furthered Olivia's uneasiness.

If the woman-named-Aura was to be considered a complex beauty, then the man who shared her table was nothing less than the most formidable of one. His presence in the restaurant was potent, and Olivia felt his mammoth size before she even saw it. She did not foresee a time in the near future when she would forget the way that he bore her down with his glacial eyes – simultaneously the blue of aquamarine and the gray of quicksilver. She remembers both the sharp pin-and-needle sensations that traveled down her body and the anxious quiver that her womb gave in the wake of his laser-like attention. Then, there was the blanketing of cold sweat as she took in his staggering height and the thick layers of muscle that his lead colored suit – as well-cut and full of sheen as it was – did poorly to disguise.

As this physical marvel sat with his dinner companion, she noticed the way that the candlelight reflected off of the sharp angles of his jaw, and the coral color of his strong-seeming lips. They were a rosy, warm hue and yet still somehow managed not to look out of place with his otherwise cool-colored features. Finally, there were his thick, glossy, syrup colored curls, cut to a length where one could make out the tidy waves and the beginnings of the wide ringlets that decorated his head. Olivia found them a fitting crown for a man so clearly superior to other humans that he almost appeared… _un_ human.

More chills crawled down her body.

Tearing her greedy eyes away from her peculiar, late-night customers, Olivia collected both herself and the table settings that she was supposed to be retrieving, and silently coached herself into approaching them.

* * *

"You want her."

Fitz narrowed his eyes at the calculating grin that his light-haired, dark-skinned dinner partner was flashing in his direction, accompanied by an irritatingly teasing drawl to her voice. His hand twitched in an all too familiar fashion. He had half the mind to –

"I don't know why you're announcing this as if you've only just realized," he snapped – verbally, instead of physically. "Isn't that your purpose? To know these things."

Aura's grin only widened. She tilted her head facetiously.

"Why of course, Fitzy," she responded in an exaggeratedly sugary tone.

"Good," Fitz said, now sharing a darker version of her grin. "Because if you keep acting like it's not, then I'll dispose of you like I do all other things that have lost their use."

Aura's face dropped into a display of unimpressed exasperation.

"I'll be so happy when you finally resolve this little _issue_ of yours," she sighed, fleetingly looking across the room at the object of her dinner partner's attention. "I've grown quite bored of this whole 'temperamental' routine."

"That _is_ what this girl and her 'magical thighs' are supposed to do for me, right? That's why we're here? To cure me of my little _issue_?"

The calculating grin returned onto Aura's face, as they both studied the smooth, glowing brown thighs in question.

"As you've already made clear, that's for me to know… and for you - should she grant you the privilege - to part those 'magical thighs' and find out."

* * *

 **A/N:** Thank you for reading, you all! I recognize that not a lot was revealed in this little introduction/teaser(?), but I promise that there's a plan to this all! Hehe. Let me know what you all think! I'm new to this whole writing thing, so please do be gentle! *wink*


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